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Monthly Archives: October 2014

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “The Telltale Heart,” were two of my favorites scary stories as a child. I believe there was an animated version of the former that came on at Halloween time, possibly the Disney version of it. I heard “The Telltale Heart” for the first time in grade five on a narrated lp that our teacher made available. A bit much for most fifth graders perhaps–I know it scared the pants off of me, but I was into that. Come to think of it that teacher was a bit creepy, e.g. he would hide in the closet of the classroom to catch kids who came back in there at recess, which was apparently a huge offence in his book.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I found these gems on YouTube:

A third tale that I remember was about a man (a lord or count of some kind I think) who brutally traps and burns a whole village of people, but not before an old woman places a curse on him, which leads to him being hunted and devoured by a swarm of rats. I couldn’t trace this particular story, but instead found another supremely creepy H.P. Lovecraft story with a rat theme that I may have read during my Lovecraft phase. You just can’t compete with the guy for creepiness! Read it here: “The Rats in the Walls” full text by H.P. Lovecraft. I also found a condensed version of the story with illustration and narration. I love that the very talented visual interpreter of this tale is offering it free online (you can donate if you really like it): The Rats in the Walls.